Sunday, June 7, 2009

The militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) will lead workers in Metro Manila and Southern Tagalog in protest actions against con-ass and cha-cha this coming week. On Monday factory workers will march around the Cavite Economic Zone in Rosario to express outrage over the passage of Resolution 1109. While on Tuesday the urban poor will hold a noise barrage at the Bicutan Interchange in Paranaque to call on Congress to withdraw the con-ass move.

“The workers protests are in response to the multisectoral movement against cha-cha and the Catholic Church’s call versus con-ass. The working class adds its voice to the people’s indignation over the railroading of con-ass and the desperate attempt to extend GMA’s term,” stated Renato Magtubo, PM chairperson.

In the Monday mass action, members of Rosario Workers Association and United Cavite Workers Association will lead two contingents that will come from Gen. Trias and Tanza, and Rosario, Kawit and Cavite City. The first group will assemble at Tejero and the second will gather at the Rosario Municipal Hall. The two contingents will meet at the main gate of the Cavite Economic Zone then march around the export zone. Meanwhile on Tuesday, affiliates of the Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino in Paranaque will march from their communities to the Bicutan palengke at the Bicutan Interchange. They will hold a noise barrage to call for a stop to con-ass and the scrapping of cha-cha.

Magtubo added that “The workers call on Congress to retreat from changing the Constitution and instead act on the economic recession. The recession has been overshadowed by other sensational news but it is a threat worse than the outbreak of the AH1N1 virus while the epidemic of layoffs is a worse scandal than the Hayden-Katrina sex video.”

PM renewed its call for a workers bailout in order to stimulate the economy and counter the recession. The group is calling for tax refund, unemployment insurance and direct subsidies to displaced employees and poor people in to order to “put money in the hands of workers and the poor” and revive consumer demand.

“Resolution 1109 may be one small step for her allies in the House of Representatives but it is a giant leap for GMA. It may not be long now when the people will wake up one morning to be greeted by a Prime Minister GMA. Con-ass is the illegitimate child of the Lakas-Kampi marriage and the secret godchild of Gloria Arroyo. It is a GMA-PALAKA outrage that is worse than the sex videos. Revising the Constitution will pave the way not just for GMA’s perpetuation in power but also the annihilation of the token protection for labor rights and national patrimony that remains in the Constitution,” explained Magtubo.

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Our dream is a world that gives due importance to the role of the working class and respects the dignity of labor. A social order where the working men and women of the world live together in peace, harmony and progress.Our aspirations lie in the emancipation of labor. A government that is truly of the workers, by the workers and for the workers.

Our hopes rest in a future where social progress thrives not for the benefit of a few people but for the development and richness of the entire humankind. A society that is free from the chains of wage slavery and where oppression does not exist.

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Forge the unity of the workers into an independent working class party to organize them as a potent political force in social transformation towards the advancement and protection of labor from the scourge of globalization, establishment of a genuine workers’ government and the emancipation of the working class from capitalist exploitation and wage slavery.

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The working class is the most important class in society. But, labor will only be a force to reckon with at a time when labor assumes the responsibility of leading the struggle to a decent living - free from exploitation of the propertied elite.

The time has come to rally every underprivileged sector of the society, to take the bull by the head and confront the issues of today. The working class must take an active role in every political exercise presented. The backbone of the independent party must be comprised of the working class with the other marginalized sectors in solidarity.

We must organize politically.

This is our own challenge and we must vow not to shirk from it.

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